


Serenity

by Merfilly



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-26
Updated: 2008-12-26
Packaged: 2017-10-10 03:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/95011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Julian learns a lesson</p>
            </blockquote>





	Serenity

The day the communique came in to tell him his ex-wife had died of a fever, Leonard McCoy called in sick. It was a rare enough occasion for him to take a day off that some of his colleagues whispered around him about it. It was forgotten, though, when he returned the next day as if nothing unusual had occurred.

His daughter's death of a broken neck through misadventure necessitated a full week's leave over and beyond just going to be there for the funeral. Again, his colleagues wondered, for his garrulous nature never seemed to extend to the personal details of his own life.

A young intern did see the pattern, as old officers, men and women who had served on the original Enterprise found their ends, and McCoy always took a day off after learning it. No betrayal of grief beyond the low level sadness at the initial news could be seen. The young intern wondered at that. Years later, caught in a war with murky boundaries, and friends falling weekly it seemed, that young intern understood at last. A doctor all too often had to convey the news of passing, and so had to be just one step away from showing the pain to his patients. McCoy, for all his heart and emotive rantings, would never burden another with his more private grief.

Julian prayed he learned the serenity of it.


End file.
